Measurement gates are used in power meters to perform time-gated power measurements. The time gating allows for peak and average power measurements in a time domain of interest. The time between the gate start and gate end is used to specify the time domain of interest.
However, a problem with the prior-art methods is that the user must manually set the positions of the gate start and end time, requiring the user to have knowledge of the characteristics of the signal under test.
Another problem is that the positions of the gate start and end time remain fixed once entered by user. The gate positions do not change with every capture/acquisition. This can be a problem when the signal is changing, for example when the signal under test has a pulse width that varies with time.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,265,700 to Johnstone and Breakenridge provides a method to detect the rising and falling edges of pulses from a signal under test which might be changing. However, U.S. Pat. No. 7,265,700 does not use this information to automatically place gates on a pulse of a signal under test for measuring peak power.
It would be desirable to automatically place time gates on a signal under test.